Jerry Tavin and Joe Panker launched
Come Alive Images. This site is dedicated to the commercial potential of GIFs—motion graphics, cinemagraphs, animated photography, looping illustrations and animation, 3D stereo photography and photo/video hybrids.
“We license GIFs worldwide through our network of stock photo and video distributors—stock image and video professionals who are as excited as we are about offering their clients this modern, organic imagery,” says Tavin. “We call them images with a heartbeat,” he adds.
Through a custom assignment division, they also connect customer to artist by making it easier to find, explore the work of and communicate with the people who create these images for a living.
Tavin is known worldwide as a stock photo expert for his success in the stock image business, never compromising on quality and ethics. His enthusiasm for photography, advocacy for photographers and his entrepreneurial spirit are unmatched in this industry.
Panker’s vision of a stock Cinemagraph, GIF marketplace was born out of need—a desire to license animated photography for his Jellyfish Advertising clients, and the difficulty in doing so in finding the right imagery, identifying artists and negotiating the licensing parameters.
The founders claim their offerings are a compelling alternative to traditional stock photos and video. These images are easy to consume and require no special coding or plug-ins to be viewed. Applications include websites, banner ads, email marketing campaigns, presentations and social media.
Come Alive offers image licensing under both rights managed and royalty free terms. Buyers will license images through Come Alive’s US distributor
Glasshouse Images. For more on how to create an animated GIF check out this
video.
My Thoughts
Tavin asked for my thoughts, so here they are. It's an interesting idea. I would think there might be a lot of potential assignments when someone finds a still image they like and want to animate it in order to provide more pizzazz and grab the viewers attention.
The problem, as I see it, is that the people most likely to want to use this technique are creative professionals who use Photoshop in their daily lives. They will have the image they want to animate, the concept of what they want the animation to do, and the skills to do the animation. Why do they need you? And, at what price?
I suppose there are some small business customers who are designing a website themselves (rather than hiring someone with experience) and really don’t understand Photoshop. If they need help, I would think these people would most likely go to a graphic designer who could give them ideas for the total project rather than someone who specializes in animation. I also think these people represent a very small percentage of the buyers who use professional services.
As to creating animations as stock element, I would be surprised if these sell very well. The image itself has to be something that really works for the customer and we all know that only a very small fraction of the images created fulfill the needs of customers. And that percentage is getting smaller by the minute as more and more images are added to the collection.
The other factor is that just because you can animate a still images doesn’t necessarily mean it should be animated, or that animation will be something a particular customer wants.
Then, we have the whole issue of video. If the customer wants motion and they are creating the original image why not just shoot a video clip. In today’s world video stock is so cheap, and there is so much of it, why should the customer bother with animation? Of course, we know some people are using animations, but I think that is mostly because they have found a still image they want to use, and it needs a little something else to get the viewers attention, not because they decided in the first place that they wanted to use a GIF.
I also looked at the pricing for advertising and web use on Glasshouse Images. To me they seem way out of line compared to the cost of video clips on Shutterstock, Pond5, Videoblocks and others.
I wish them Good Luck with this venture, but I will be surprised if this line of business has much future.